NEW YORK – In an unlikely battle of sequels, Thor: The Dark World bested The Best Man Holiday at the box office.
Thor: The Dark World continued its box-office reign with $38.5 million in its second week of release, according to studio estimates Sunday. Opening 15 years after the original The Best Man, The Best Man Holiday opened strongly with $30.6 million.
Drawing an overwhelmingly female and African-American audience, The Best Man Holiday was a surprise challenger for the mighty Thor. The made-in-Toronto romantic comedy, with an ensemble cast including Morris Chestnut and Taye Diggs, debuted with more than three times the box office of 1999’s The Best Man. That film opened with $9 million.
The performance of Malcolm D. Lee’s The Best Man Holiday continued an ongoing trend. Movies that appeal particularly to black audiences have often been surpassing expectations at the box office.
Lee Daniels’ The Butler led the box office for several weeks in August, leading to a cumulative total of $115.5 million domestically. The Oscar-contender 12 Years a Slave has made $25 million in five weeks of limited release.
A third Best Man film now seems a likely bet.
Marvel’s Norse superhero, however, has been hammering audiences around the globe. Thor: The Dark World made $52.5 million internationally over the weekend, bringing its worldwide total to $479.8 million. With Chris Hemsworth as the title character and Tom Hiddleston as the popular villain Loki, the Thor franchise has proven to be one of Marvel’s most successful.
Just as Thor approached the half-billion mark, space adventure Gravity crossed it. In seven weeks of release, Gravity has made $514.9 million globally.
The Best Man Holiday was the only new wide-release opening over the weekend, as the marketplace clears out for the release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. In limited release, Alexander Payne’s black-and-white Midwest road trip Nebraska opened in four locations with a solid $35,000 per theatre average.
Expected to be one of the year’s biggest debuts, Catching Fire will abruptly close the box-office window for Thor next weekend. Catching Fire opened in Brazil over the weekend, earning $6.3 million.
This weekend’s Top 5 was rounded out by Last Vegas, Free Birds and Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa. The romantic comedy About Time, starring Ontario-born Rachel McAdams, placed 10th at the box office with another $3.5 million.
– with files by Global News
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